Student Food and Baking Blog by a Student

Sweet Freedom Review

Sweet Freedom contacted me recently about testing out their Sweet Freedom and Choc Shot products out and I was happy to do so. I had heard about Choc Shot before and was excited to finally be able to not only test the product out but also promote it to you guys today!

Sweet Freedom’s goal is to give us the freedom to enjoy sweet things without any of the guilt and make the sweet things taste naughtier than they are! They currently have a range of 5 products, 4 of which I was sent to test.

Like with any product, I think it’s essential to taste it on its own and judge the product as it arrives.

One thing I loved was the squeezing mechanism that prevented any leakage. I’ve always had problems with screwing lids on properly and I’ve had an entire bottle of vanilla extract go all over the cupboard before and it was a nightmare to clean up! It meant that I could store it safe in the knowledge that I wouldn’t have any spillage in the cupboard! It’s a small thing but made me love the product immediately.

The first thing I tried was the Choc Shot Liquid Chocolate. It boasts a mere 14 calories per teaspoon and is gluten and dairy-free. I noticed on the packaging, both simple yet incredibly well branded, that it seemed to be aimed at making hot chocolate yet on the reverse, they offer a multitude of uses such as making milkshakes, drizzling over ice cream or spreading on toast. I tasted a small amount and I was immediately hit with a powerful intense flavour of good quality dark chocolate and sweetness before being left with a creamy yet bitter dark chocolate aftertaste, which was really pleasant. I felt like I’d just eaten a square of dark chocolate but I’d had a small blob of the Choc Shot. I was thoroughly impressed with the Choc Shot and I can see that there is a market for this product, a healthier alternative to standard chocolate as well as taking away the need for melting chocolate. My only personal improvement would be lowering the price down slightly from £3.59 per bottle to about £2.59 per bottle as this great product would be accessible to a much greater percentage of the consumer market!

The other Choc Shot flavours I had were Orange Spice and Coconut. Choc Shot Orange Spice had great packaging again, you could recognise that it was orange flavoured immediately. It tasted like Terry’s Chocolate Orange which is what I think what they were going for! I associate Terry’s Chocolate Orange with Christmas time so I know I would definitely be using the Orange Spice a lot in my Christmas baking! Even so, the taste was strong of orange and you get a huge hit of orange on the initial taste before it subsides into that deep chocolate flavour and an orange aftertaste. I’m sure this would be absolutely perfect in a hot cup of cocoa on Christmas Eve, it would get you ready for Christmas Day! Choc Shot Coconut tasted exactly like a Bounty chocolate bar and for that reason alone, I praise Sweet Freedom!

The fourth product I was given to test was the Sweet Freedom Fruit Syrup, which can be used as a replacement to normal refined sugar. Derived from apples, grapes and carob, the syrup boasts an impressive 16g of fructose per 100g, compared to 40g in honey, 50g in sugar and 90g in agave syrup as well as have a low glycaemic index (GI) meaning it doesn’t affect the blood glucose level dramatically after eating. For someone who hadn’t used a sugar replacement before, it looked exactly like honey and golden syrup and I was excited to start using it in my baking as a sugar replacement. Taste-wise, well it tastes like golden syrup however you can detect that slight fruitiness.

I told Sweet Freedom that I would use their product in 4 recipes before writing this review and I’ve finally got round to doing all 4!

First I used the Sweet Freedom syrup in my Refined Sugar-Free Coconut Flapjacks to replace the golden syrup and sugar in the recipe. You can find the recipe here.

This second recipe I tried evoked memories of my holiday to Hong Kong in 2014. The dish in Hong Kong was squares of French toast drizzled with condensed milk and melted chocolate and using the Choc Shot, I could easily recreate one of my favourite dishes from my holidays.

Take 4 slices of plastic white bread (for it to be authentic!) and make 2 sandwiches consisting of 2 slices, spread with butter and peanut butter. Cut into cubes and then press down slightly with your hands to flatten slightly. Dip into 2 eggs whisked up with 2 tablespoons of icing sugar and fry in a pan with melted butter until the egg is cooked through. To serve, pile up on a plate and liberally drizzle over condensed milk and Choc Shot.

Thirdly I used the Choc Shot Orange Spice to replace melted chocolate in a cornflake cake recipe to give it that extra dimension. Using Choc Shot meant that the cornflake cake didn’t set hard so it was easier to both cut through and eat and this was one advantage. I’m going to use this in a future post so stay tuned! Here’s my recipe:

Take 100g of cornflakes and mix it together with 25g melted margarine, 2 tablespoons of golden syrup, 75g melted dark chocolate and 2 tablespoons of Choc Shot Orange Spice. Transfer into a tin lined with baking parchment or individual cupcake cases and allow to set in the fridge until it is not sticky to the touch.

The fourth and final recipe (for now) I tried was a Bounty Hot Chocolate using the Choc Shot Coconut. What with the weather starting to turn, it’s a great way to comfort yourself in front of the TV with a few biscuits!

Heat up 200ml milk either in the microwave or over a pan. When you dip your finger in and it is not too hot to the touch, add in 3 tablespoons of the Choc Shot Coconut and stir until dissolved. Heat up for a further 30 seconds and then dust with cocoa powder if you have it, top with marshmallows and cream if you have them and serve with some biscuits.

Thanks to Sweet Freedom for letting my review their products! I really enjoyed them and I would never have done these recipes without using the Choc Shot and Sweet Freedom and I thoroughly recommend them. You can find out more about Sweet Freedom below by clicking here.